The Sun. — London, England, 1864-10-15 00:00:00

The Chancellor of the Exchequer at Manchester. MANCHESTER, Friday Evening. THE ADDRESS IN THE TOWN HALL. At 11 o'clock this morning the Chancellor of the Exchequer attended at the Town-hall to receive an address from the Corporation of Manchester, The hall was densely crowded, The MAYOR (Mr J. M. Bennett), in stating the object of the meeting, referred to the fact that it was just eleven years this week since the Chancellor of the Exchequer received an address from the citi zens of Manchester. At that time some of the more cautious among them had considerable doubts as to the course of financial and commercial policy which the right hon. gentleman was then pursuing. Some, perhaps, of the more shortsighted could not then comprehend how taxation could be reduced, in re gard especially to certain articles used by the indus trious classes, and how, at the same time, the revenue instead of being diminished could be in. creased. (Hear, hear.) Happily those times have long passed away, and they were now all agreed that the statesman who stood before them was the man of whom among all others this great mercantile nation has reason to be proud. (Cheers.) He had the honour, in the name of his fellow-citizens, to offer the most cordial welcome to their illustrious visitor. (Cheers.) Mr. GLADSTONE, who was received with the greatest cordiality, said—Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen,—you have been good enough, sir, in the remarks with which you prefaced the reading of this address, to remind this meeting and myself that this is not the first occasion on which I hale had the honour to stand in your Town-hall, and to re ceive an expression of your confidence, I am sure, sir, you did not suppose that for me at least any such reminder could be necessary, for the day upon which a person charged with the administration of the finances of this country, and placed in inti. mate relation with its commerce, and the day on which a person so placed receives an expression of approval from the citizens of Manchester, through their highly accredited and most authentic organ, the municipal body of the town, is a day that can not be forgotten as long as the pulse of life shall beat. (Hear.) And, sir, I feel myself particularly happy in receiving the unexpected honour of a re petition of that confidence and favour. I did not expect that it would have been the desire of tha citizens of Manchester, expressed through their chief magistrate and the municipal body, to bestow upon me a favour, to have received which once was quite enough to satisfy my desires, and to go far beyond my deserts—(cheers)—but at the same time you have chosen to make to me a tender which it was impossible for me to hesitate one moment about accepting; and at any rate you have given me this public advantage—you have called attention to the interval which has elapsed since, formerly holding the same office in the service of the Clown, I stood before you in this place, and received from you an address similar to that which I have the honour to receive to-day. And what years, Mr. Mayor, those years have been ! what years of progress ! what years of suffering ! what years of painful and partly of pleasurable, but in each case of valuable and precious experience ! What years of retrospect ! what years of hope, how much they have taught us as to the character of our country and of our countrymen 1 How much the course of these events is calculated to direct cur minds to the future, and to ask what part England is to play, what position she is to mime, what is to be the condition of her institutions, what the character of her population when our children shall occupy the places that are now held by us ? But chequered, sir, as those years have been—and in no place more than in the district of which this great city is the centre— they have been years, upon the whole, in which the elements of satisfaction, the causes for thankful ness to the Almighty, and the grounds of hope for the future have preponderated in a degree I might call immeasurable over every element of a contrary character. (Cheers.) In the—compli ments I will hardly call them, for the word is too light and trivial, but the expressions of indulgence, of kindness, and of favour, which you have been pleased to use towards me, ere expres sions that I shall not interpret as belonging to my• self in an individual capacity. It is true, circum stances have placed me in a position of special re sponsibility with regard to that class of questions in which your particular interests, and in which the industrial interests of the nation are peculiarly con. cerned. It is also true—and it mast never be for. gotten—that in the period in which we live indus trial questions, commercial and fiscal questions, are assuming a moral character and aspect, a social and political importance in such a degree as has never before belonged to them. (Cheers.) And for my self, sir, I will not affect to deny that ever since it became my duty to apply the best powers of my mind, such as they may be, to the study of these I subjects, I have found bat one view of them to be possible, and that the view which tends in every direction and with no limit, except such as consi derations of prudence may impose, towards the libe• ration of industry, capital, and skill. (Cheers.) I may claim for myself the credit of having earnestly and sincerely laboured in the cause—(cheers)—but I should go greatly beyond the limits not only of modesty bat of truth were I to forget for on: moment that I have been a pupil far more than a teacher, that I have been a follower far more than a leader. In eminent statesmen among my own colleagues, among members of Parliament, those who held the distinguished position of independent legislators for the country, among political economists, among the practical men in English commeree and manufac ture, have been found those powerful, indefatigable minds that have made the truths of economical science at last clear as the sun in the heavens at noonday, and caused them to be no longer subjects of dispute or mere philosophical speculation, but part of the practical patrimony of every English man as he is born into the world. (Cheers.) And, Mr Mayor and gentlemen, let it not be said that we are met here for the mere reciprocal exchange of compliments—let me not attempt to express my gratitude to you in language that might seem to savour of adulation to yourself and your position. I will not overstate, but I will under state, the case when I say that when the pen of the historian shill hereafter delineate—and depend upon it it will delineate with care the entire history of the momentous change that has been brought about in our lifetime in the commercial legislation of the country, to no community, to no separate andsingle portion of the British nation can that pen assign a station so distinguished and so prominent, what ever may be the claims of others in regard to the special and effective prosecution of this great cause, BB it will most assuredly award to the community of Manchester. (Cheers.) Mr. Mayor, the services such as they may be, which has been in my power to render, have been rendered not in a single and individual capacity, but as a member of the admi. nistrAion. (Cheers.) To my colleagues, not less than to myself, to some of them in particular, but to all of them together, is due the praise of which you are pleased to make me the particular and per sonal recipient, and glad I am indeed to stand be fore an assembly such as that which I now have the honour to address, for feel myself justified in their name as well as in my own, of tendering to you an expression of our warm, our respectful gratitude . Now, Mr. Mayor, and gentlemen, the years that have passed and the course of them to which you have alluded would afford many topics for comment and remark, but it is difficult to make a selection from them, but as you have gone back, sir, to that period, now almost exactly eleven years ago, where first I had the honour of receiving your fa vour, I cannot help recollectingthe expression of that at that time, in the first ; place, the mind of the country was most uneniraons!y directed to a great question of foreign policy, and n the secon d p i ece to an im porta'nt question Which was then regrded with the greatest interest by tht, citizens of Manchester, ree lating to:et he province of commercial reform—l mean the rcpcai of the paper duty, L et roe say a ver y few words on each of these two questions. I t i s quite plain that of late years the f or , ign policy the country has assumed an immedi a t e and of parti cular importance ns a standing subject of d e b ate in the legislature, and of discueson by the pees and by the people, such as was almost unknown to our forefathers. In former times, from period to period, great questions occurred where the national interests or the national honour was supposed to be specially connected in some particular debate with some particular country, but at other times the ate tention of the Legislature and the nation has been confined to domestic affairs, That state of things is now greatly changed. Such has been the extent sion of our commercial relations in particular into every quarter of the globe, that on the mere ground of special and direct interest we are compelled to pay an attention to what takes place elsewhere such as formerly was not by any consideration of abso lute necessity demanded at our hands. But it has not been the extension of direct interest that we should take into view. We must also consider the undoubted and indisputable fact that one of the cha racteristics of our time is the mutual feeling of cone cern of every nation in the affairs and destinies and prospects of every other nation, and in no country can that sentiment of general interest and of con cern be so natural, so suitable, so efficient as in a country like England, placel in universal relations with every people of the earth, Under these cir cumstances it becomes a matter of the deepest im portance that wisdom, circumspection, courage, and justice should direct the foreign policy of this coun , try. (Cheers.) Well, Mr Mayor and gentlemen, in speaking of this principle I hold that the disinte rested position of England is above all that which should be borne in mind—that we have a high dig- L nity—that we have a high influence, with regard to , all questions in the least affecting the policy of Europe, to which no other country from its position can in the same degree aspire, although in point of fact it is no special virtue on our part, but is the result of that position in which Providence has placed us with regard to the other states of Europe, so that we can have no desire with regard to them except that peace and harmony should prevail amongst them, and that they should adopt for their standing guidance of conduct the principle of respecting the rights of one 'another. (Cheers.) This is a happy position for us to maintain. It places us, as it were, by the side of every European nation in the character of the friend of each and all. It makes us feel that the time is gone by when it was the fashion and the custom of the country to speak of one great country abroad in particular as our na tural enemy. We have no natural enemy. (Cheers.) Every country of Europe is our natural friend, and if to any country of Europe in particular we are to look as the country by a choice relation with which we may best promote the general interest of the civilised world, it is that very country which once, in the blindness of uncharitableness and in natural yet unhappy prejudice, we regarded as our natural enemy. (Cheers.) I trust that you think that the conduct of the Government in the regulation of its foreign policy has been actuated by a sincere desire to perform towards all countries of the world the offices of friendship. (Hear, hear.) I trust, indeed I am confident, that you think that that dis position has been indicated by the Government, and not specially by the Government, for in this respect they have been no more than the organs of the feelings of the people. That disposition to respect the rights of every country, to avoid undue influ ence in its concerns has been indicated in regard to the lamentable war which still desolates the con tinent of America, (Hear.) England was a sad sufferer by that war, I don't believe that history records a case in which the internal dissensions of a country have produced such wide-spread calamie ties in other nations beyond its borders. But we have felt that it was our duty to respect American freedom ; to respect the discretion of the Americans to deal with their own affairs, whatever might be our particular opinions as to the wisdom of any course they were pursuing, or as to the practicability of any object they had in view. For my own part, I confess that I always had great doubts as to the practicability of reducing to subjection any large portion of a country that manifests a determined disposition to separate. (Loud cheers.) But what ever be our opinion, we have no right to place it in a form which should make us the judge of what it is fit for another country to do. (Continued cheers.) Theirs is the responsibility ; ours has been in part the suffering. But if we groan over the suffering which has been experienced among our own popula tion, let us look at the frightful magnitude of the calamities the Americans are undergoing. (Hear.) It is for them, as they have the responsibility, to judge of their own course. I entertain, in the first place, this conviction, t hat, by any attempt to enforce our own judgment instead of theirs, we should have done nothing but embitter a contest already too much exasperated ; in the second place I feel that the sentiment with which we ought to regard this most unhappy war is :—We have no jealousy of American greatness, we have no reason to fear them or any other nation—(hear, hear)--we feel they are our brethren by blood and language; we know their continent is calculated to continue in relations of the most benefichil intercourse with us, and we ought to pray Almighty God that it may please Him in His mercy to bring this sanguinary contest, if it be His will, at an early period to such a termination as shall be best for the happiness,* peace, permanent welfare, and prosperity of all the inhabitants of what were once the United States. (Cheers.) With regard to other questions of foreign policy, I need not say much; I might express the warm and enthusiastic feeling of this country with regard to what is believed to be the cause of free dom, of justice in the Italian peninsula. (Cheers.) Lately we have been informed of an event which I deem of the greatest importance with regard to the future happiness of the Italian people—l mean the Franco-Italian treaty. I am not able to pronounce any diplomatic or official judgment on the merits of that convention, but I may venture to say I regarded it with the eye of satisfaction. (Hear, hear.) It may not, it is true, promise an immediate solution of the very serious difficulties with which the destinies of the Italian people are still beset, but we know that the best and wisest meu of Italy believe that by this treaty a great step has been gained toe wards the consolidation of freedom in that coun try. As to the object in view, I cannot express to you what I think of its importance. 1 do believe that the fusion of the separate and feeble States of Italy into a kingdom which shall be united and powerful, and in which on all European questions must almost of necessity be disinterested, is an event of incalculable importance to the happiness of man kind. (Hear, hear.) I ventured a few minutes ago to say that England was singularly favcured in her insular position, which renders her impartial in re gard to questions of European politics ; but the Alps very nearly do for Italy what the sea does for Eng land. It is hardly possible that Italy could be a power under under any circumstances animated by the pernicious and destructive madness of the prin ciple of territorial aggrandisement. In the best sense of the word, on European questions the kingdom of Italy even as it is, still more when more fully con solidated and brought to its natural limits, must be for every European question a power conservative of honour and justice—conservative of the peace and welfare of the world. (Cheers.) We have no merit in regard to the treaty ; but it is a subject on which, tak -1 ing a view of its provisions which it appears to war rant, we may exchange mutual congratulations; the solution of the other problems will follow, under Providence, in good time. Meanwhile something has been accomplished, and it is well that the treaty has a tendency to divest the great political question at issue in Italy of its more distinctive ecclesiastical character. It is well that lia:iaes and a large por tion of our own fellow-countrymen should under stand that, in our warm sympathy for Italian unity and freedom, the people of England are not governed by what may be called sectarian motives—the peo ple of England have their own religious connexions, and are sufficiently decided in the maintenance and expression of them; but they contemplate this Italian question with the true and single view that what they look at is entirely a question of political rights end justice, anal that they recommend and support precisely the same principles in regard to the con solidation and unity of Italy, as th ey the religion of Italy were in every re s pect as their own. (Cheers.) May I nwouthlde do if now venture to advert to another question, which, in my opinion, is not of [mall interest, but which has been little mentioned in this country, because I think of the unity of feeling in reference to it—l mean the erasion of the lonian Islands. I look wi!ti great satisfaction on that measure—(hear, hear)—because it shows the people of England are rising far above the region of their prejudices, by which their judg ment would formerly have been obscured. Years back we should have had all sorts of bugbears sent into the world, and attempts would have been made to persuade the people that Corfu was the gate of the Adriatic, that the Adriatic was a part of the Mediterranean, that the Mediterranean involved the empire of the seas, and that the cession of the lonian Islands would be the downfall of England. (Laughter, and Hear, hear.) I do believe there are persons who conscientiously entertain a view of things not very different from that, but they have found themselves in a minority so small that their voice has never risen above a political whisper. (A laugh.) Mr Mayor and gentlemen, in the cession of the lonian Islands a marked homage has been paid to principles of justice, and we who have gone about preaching to others that they ought to have regard to national rights, feelings, and traditions, have by the cession of the protectorate of the lonian Islands shown that we are ready to apply in our own case the rules and maxims which we advised them to apply. There is no denying that the people of these islands, with great differences of opinion as to time and circumstance, did look anxiously forward to reunion to their glorious and distinguished race ; they did not imagine the position of that race to be now such as to justify the immediate application of those epithets, but they looked with affectionate in terest upon the deeds of their forefathers, and they cherished the hope that a future not unbecoming or unworthy of the brilliant past might be at some time preserved to them. That was a sentiment which it was wise and just in us to respect. They would have been less than human if they had not cherished it. I would ask what we should think of some portion of the great English race severed from itself, and not of sufficient magnitude or independence, and lying in some geographical proximity to ourselves, if they did not entertain the same feelings of anxiety for union with us ? It is a precisely similar case with the lonians. The inhabitants of those scattered islands could not possibly become a nation of them selves. Their fellow countrymen, however, had become a nation, and a free nation, and nature would have been done violence to if they had not desired to be reunited. We conceded to that deaire,and I am convinced that the Government of Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell, who were the authors of that measure, though they took the lead of the sentiment of their countrymen in the proposal, did not misin terpret that sentiment, and that if ever their policy in that respect is challenged, it will receive the em phatic approval of the people of this country. I won't refer by more than one word to the great party conflict which took place at the end of last session of Parliament. It is not a subject to which we have any cause to refer with a sentiment of mor tificat'on. What is much more important in the party aspect of it is this. I think the temper with which it was viewed by the nation was a temper of great wisdom and growing caution and circumspec tion, and that it was due to an opinion consolidat ing itself in the country that even to the strength and resources which England possesses, and which, as we well and firmly believe, are sufficient to enable her to discharge every duty; yet it would not be wise for her to overlook a regard to the propor tion of means and ends, or to entangle her in ens gagements which she might ultimately find herself incompetent to fulfil. I turn now to a question which was a subject of some portion of the commu nication which passed between us eleven years ago, and an important domestic question—l mean the repeal of the excise duty on paper. At that time Manchester, not only through its very distinguished representative,Mr Gibson, but also by the action of many of its leading citizens, took a prominent part in promoting that repeal. It was surely a very natural movement. We had taken away the duties upon glass and uron soap, we had abo• lished the interference of the excise with every other branch of trade which has no other pur pose than the production of useful commercial arti cles. The paper duty alone remained. It was felt that no principle could bo urged for its retention. On merely commercial grounds it was right that it should be repealed. The repeal of it, I may be per mitted to say, was found to be no easy matter— (laughter)—but though it was not an easy matter it has been accomplished. I am only going to speak of one, but a very important, portion of those re ..tilts—the simply economical part of those results. I have no doubt it will take a long time to develop, bat I adhere confidently to the opinion that it will probably be found that fibrous materials—which by the repeal of the paper duty have been come pletely emancipated from any interference of the Excise in any industrial process—will, perhaps in no very long time, be found to be applicable use fully to a multitude of purposes which never were even ECI much as dreamed of, or if they were dreamed of, could not be made the subject of practical prose cution as long as the paper duty continued in exis tence. But standing before a community which entertained such decided opinions on that subject, I must acknowledge the debt of gratitude which is due to all the early promoters of the movement for the repeal in connection with the moral and politi cal consequences which that repeal has had in re spect to its effects upon the public press. I am not going to say one word in disparagement cf the public press of the country at any period of its existence. My belief is that from the very first it has been an organ of good immensely preponderat ing over the mischief. I mean now as it existed tbree, four, five generations ago; in our time, as it existed 20 years ago, it had reached to a position of remarkable prominence and utility. The great organs of the press, as you well know, are conducted by some of the most accomplished minds of the country—many of the articles written in those ealinotf the paper duty w- re he perm anent li terature p w a o p r e t r h s y o b f e ftoarket tang h g e a repeal of the paper duty w- re worthy of taking a pl p a c e of England. I well remember being in company with Sir Robert Peel not less than 30 years back, when a question was raised about the author ship of " Jnnius." You well remember how great a national as well as a literary sensation was produced at the time by the publication of those letters. In point of fact, the intense controversy with respect to the authorship may enable us to measure the importance of those letters as a political phenomenon of the times ; but when that question was in discussion in private conversation the literary merit of the letters themselves was also brought under view, and I well recollect that Sir R. Peel gave at once his opinion that the letters of " Junius" were not as well written as the Times. It was a great thing to possess a press in which the mind of the country was so ably and fully repre sented, in which public a ff a i rs an d th e con duct of public men were so freely an d i ncessant l y canvas sed and discussed. That disc uss i on i s o f i nes ti ma ble value to the country, and to none of more value than to public men themselves. Certainly my own view of the working of the press is, that upon the whole, and for every domestic question, it is nearly perfect—not that there are no passions, prejudices, or errors, but that with perfect freedom of discus sion, and with organs representing every section of opinion, passions, prejudices, and errors neutralise one another. But with respect to foreign policy you can have no such unmixed a result or such unmixed good, because when strong national sentiment arises with regard to some question of foreign policy then opinion in this country flows one way in a degree which is rarely the ease with respect to domestic questions, and there is undoubtedly a great risk that the press, partaking of the natural sympathies, should lose a great part of its utility as a corrector of error, and should inflame the very prejudices it is desirable to correct and to remove. (Hear.) As regards foreign policy the conductors of the press themselves require to test moral self command and self restraint. As regards domestic policy it is a marvellous institution, which its practical working as a whole comes near to perfection ; but still it cannot be denied that 20 years ago it was not the press of the people—it could not be from the price at which it was sold, it could not and did not convey to the people constant, full, and impartial informs. tioniwith respect to public affairs. It was the press of the upper classes—it answered every intellectual demand we could make. It was a press to a great degree of the middle class, or of the upper portion of the middle class—. for them, too, it was a satisfactory institution—but this genial and beneticial influence which it had for the mino. rity of the country,it exercised only in a very limited degree for the majority of the people. The repeal of the paper duty has brought about a beneficial revolution in that re spect. You know how the press of England—l believe, all things considered, the cheapest press in the world—is bought by millions, or, at least, by hundreds of thousands, and carries into every house full and accurate knowledge of the state of public affairs, of what is now the relation of feeling and affection between the people and those institu tions of the working of which they are constantly informed —and, moreover, it carries with it into every house—if, indeed, it were not found there before—but it strengthens in every house those sentiments of affectionate loyalty to the throne, of confidence in the Legislature, and profound attachment to our institutions, and affectionate love for the country in which they are born, and with a higher pride and hope of England—thus it has led to great and worthy results. Again I say, now every angry passion has sub sided, and it is not necessary to recal a painful feeling even by incidental allusion, we must, I think, as a people, re joice that the press of England has been entirely set free from every legislation and every fiscal restraint, that it is as free as any portion of our institutions, and that it holds a place among them so worthy and so distinguished. (Cheers.) Mr Mayor and gentlemen, lam drawing near a close of the remarks I have to make to you, but I must say one word as to the condition of the community among which you live. There, too, we have a remarkable chapter in retrospect, and we have, as I hope, even a brilliant chapter, not in the immediate, but in the somewhat more remote prospect ; but the chapter in retrospect, the his tory of the last three years, is as valuable and as pre cious in many of the most important respects as ,has been the recollection of th© brightest achievements of our commercial and manufacturing industry and skill, for it bears a moral aspect which is of inestimable interest and value. What have we seen ? We have seen a population counted almost by millions cast into distress, and we have seen those:millions meet and encounter that distress. Speak ing of the vast, the enormous majority, and the public opi nion formed among them which controlled the character of the whole, we have seen that distress borne even in the height of its intensity without a murmur of discontent— without a shock to confidence —with even an improvement in moral character and conduct—with an exhibition of patience, of self-command, of practical Christianity, such as does the highest honour to the nation,and especially to that country to which we all belong—(cheers) —but we have seen also, what I will not dwell on at length—benevolence and philanthropy exhibited in the finest and largest forms by great numbers of those who have been blessed with the means of relieving the distress of their neighbours,and who have been placed in special relation to those neighbours as the employers of their labour. However, I won't dwell on a subject like that before parties who are interested in the matter, but this I will say, that the machinery for the relief of Lancashire distress has been a great important fact in it self, to think that the wants of hundreds of thousands, and almost millions, could be met as they have been met—not by the agency of the Government, not by convoking Parlia ment and passing special laws, not by the employment of an army of official persons sent forth at the public charge to ascertain, to record, and to regulate that relief, but by the voluntary action of the community itself—by the mixed in fluence of Christian character and practical wisdom thoroughly combined together—by the power of organisa tion made applicable on a gigantic scale to the relief of a gigantic calamity—and thus is a fact almost new in the history of the country—a fact which we can only appre ciate in its full magnitude and importance if we compare it with the enormous waste, with the lamentable failure in many respects, though I believe it was the very best that could be done, and with the comparative barren ness of all moral le suit which attended the immense expenditure of public money in the case of the la mentable Irish famine—we have seen in Lancashire every class of men, we have seen professors of every grade of po litics and religion, we have seen the distinguished and emi nent leader of the Opposition—we have seen, under his guidance and auspices, and with the aid of his great capacity and habits of business, and an union of heart and of well directed, unflinching, and decisive efforts towards the attain ment of a great purpose, which, as the mere offspring of private will, is, I think, without example in our history, and it is one of the most remarkable proofs that can be given of the fertilising and invigorating effect of free institutions and their ancient tradition in the formation of individual character. I hope from what I have said with regard to the Irish famine that I shall not be supposed to intend to im pute that we did not do all that could be done with refer ence to the means at our command. There was an immense amount of devoted labour, and of most intelligent as well as magnificent liberality on the part of the country, but still it was Government machinery, and 1 want you to see the in finite superiority of voluntary action in every such case. (Hear.) The Legislature did not, however, forget that it had a concern in the matter there was little for it to do, but a provision of public money in the way of a loan was called for. There were two leading opinions on the subject, chiefly prevalent out of Lancashire, that resort should be had to a rate in aid, and the other that there ought to be advances from the Exchequer. In nay official capacity, when a de mand is made for a public grant or even a public loan, my first impulse is to receive it with a moderate but still sen sible degree of jealousy and aversion —(a laugh)—but I can confidently assure you that I never had the slightest senti ment of that kind in regard to the application from Lanca shire. (Cheers.) There wore some, but they were South erners, and knew no better—(a laugh)—there were some who believed that the loan was only a grant in disguise, and that when the time came there would be found much difficulty as to the repayment. I for one was convinced from the first that advances to Lanea,Lire would be repaid with the same exact fidelity as any one among you would show in meeting a bill drawn upon him for value received. (Hear, hear.) Nay more, I was sure that if a loan had been offered to Lancashire it would have been refused. (Hear, hear.) I heartily rejoice that the opinion prevalent in Lancashire was adopted, in preference to the rate in aid, as the dominant principle of relief. What little that had to be done, the Legislature has done well and wisely under the auspices of my friend Mr Villiers, but it was little indeed compared to the greatness of the work to be performed. That work stands on a monument to the great triumph and everlasting honour of free and voluntary agency. Mr Mayor and gentlemen —a desire is expressed in the address that I may be long spared to enjoy the confidence of the Sovereign, and to perform services to the country. (Cheers.) Well, after having completed 32 years in the public service one begins to think of a future to be passed otherwise than in the exciting scenes of political conflict. Indeed, I have seen grow up around me, when a member of the liniversity, , a body of distinguished men, almost every one of whom has now been laid low by the hand of death, while engaged in the service of his coun try. lam reminded that no reliance must be placed on the duration of the frail bodily life which we hold as a gift or loan from the Almighty; still I also feel that whatever be the time, and I cannot expect it will be a very long one, whatever be the time remaining to me to be passed in pub lic life, it would be strange in a country Ike this if I did not feel in common with the bulk of our public men an earnest desire that the time should be passed faithfully and honourably in the national service. Have we not every encouragement and inducement ? We do not mistake the freedom of comment on our acts, we know perfectly well that it is due to the lively movement of the intellect of a country incessantly engaged in examining public affairs; and that freedom of comment is a great and essential safe guard of the public interest. We know that any errors we may commit are indulgently regarded, while any services we may assist in performing is generously and nobly appreciated. We know this, also, that after all we are no more than members of one great organisation ; we may call ourselves rulers and governors of a people, but as a people politically organised, and a movement of political life passing through every class, and passing upwards quite as much as it passes downwards, we may call ourselves leaders, presidents, or commanding-officers, or what you like ; but it is not by an action independently of you, it is by co-operation with you that political results are to be achieved whether we live in times of seal or times of relaxation, and it is in common with you that we entertain zeal or relax into quietude. But, gentlemen, permit me to express a hope that this great community will continue to be upon its guard against what I may call the principle of political lethargy. That is not a sound nor a healthy principle. There are times when I apprehended it would be the duty of any public man in addressing a public assembly to endeavour to moderate what seemed to him over-loving and excessive eagerness even in work of reforming improvement ; but the time in which we live is not a time of that character, it is rather a time in which it is becoming that we should recall to our re collections that although so much has been done, and will be done, to the honour of all parties concerned in this great country during the last 30 years, yet that it behoves us to continue cautiously, steadily, and justly, but firmly to con tinue in the tame career. We cannot look abroad over the face et our country without feeling thet there is much that we have yet to desire; we cannot look across the Channel to Ireland, and especially to the state of feeling in Ireland, and say that that state of feeling, taken as a whole, is becoming for the honour and for the advantage of the United King dom; we cannot look upon our brethren and fellow citizens there without heartily wishing that they were more en tirely united with us. We cannot say that their duty to the people has been discharged. I do not say that Purl-- went is the faithful steward of the powers which it has re ceived ; it is governed by an enlightened desire to promote the interests of the entire community; but that Parliament has more than once heard an expression of the desire that some extension should take place in the direct action of the people iu the choice of its representatives. (Cheers.) There cannot, I think, be a doubt that, wherever the state of public feeling shall have matured for the satisfactory entertaining of that question, one of the great demonstrative facts of the moral claim of the people to have some exten sion of the franchise will rest upon the conduct of the popu lation of Lancashire during the distress Of the last few years. If I refer to my own department, I look upon that as one in which the business of reform can never be brought to its termination, because you know very well that where there ine incessant tendency I t is money there i s t emptation. In t h e a d m i n i s t rat i on o f public money the p r i nc i ple of decay an d corrup ti on i s con tinually is o an a s t work.an a o t f i o ourn t at nature drn raein a that : s la t r er is a t o necessit y dete r in i n h ti , n of public money, unless that tendency be corrected by the vigilant attention of the Government, and still more of the Parliament, and most of all of the people. (Cheers.) It is to the action of the people themselves I look for sem rity. When the action is full and rife then Parliament will discharge its proper duty as a control upon the executive in its expenditure of the public money : and depend upon it, when that position is reversed and that Government instead of Parliament is the restraining power as regards expendi ture, that is a state of things calling for public attention, if indeed it be the desire of the people that their concerns should be honestly and fairly administered. Now, Mr Mayor, I beg most cordially to thank you for the honour which you have done me, which I do not interpret as a formal compliment, and which I take to be much less a per sonal one intended for myself than as what it is in truth, the symbol and practical indication of a sentiment happily prevailing and well established in the public mind, a sen timent of general confidence in the minds of the commu nity as towards its Legislature and its Government. I trust you will soon see the day when the present cause for anxiety in . connection with the condition of your great industrial occupations will have passed away. lam not so sanguine as to hope that suffering is at an end, I am not even so sanguine as to hope that the minor crisis which is now upon the manufacturers of Lancashire will be the last. You have had the whole of your concerns carried to a state so remote from their natural and normal state that there is much to go through in the return to it ; but I think on one side the feeling, the energy, the zeal, and the enlightened wisdom, and on the other side, the patience and the self command which have been able to bear a greater evil, will be able to bear the less, and that you will before any long time see your pursuits relieved from the pressure of the causes of mischief akd inconvenience that are at present sensibly affecting them : so that you will sea your great cotton industry restored to an extension such as it never yet enjoyed—(hear, hear)—and that causes which have im mediately had for result suffering and calamity will here after be looked back upon as bequests, not only in their moral, but even in their political results on a single, and what in one sense we must deem a tainted source of sup ply, and by making the resources of many countries of the world contribute to the supply of the industry which the whole world is a debtor; for there is no portion of the world which is not a debtor to the cotton industry of Lancashire. (Loud cheers.) A vote of thanks to the Mayor closed the proceedinge. DISTRIBUTION OF OXFORD MIDDLE CLASS PRIZES. At 2 o'clock the Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered the prizes and certificates to the successful candidates for the honours of the Oxford Local Examination, in the presence of an audience which filled to overflowing the Free Trade Hall. After the distribution was concluded, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, who was received with loud cheers, said—Ladies and gentlemen, we have now arrived at the close of what some might be disposed to call the formal part of our proceedings ; but even if that ap pellation were given to the duties in which we have been engaged, I would beg you to hesitate before assenting to the proposition that those duties have been merely formal. You who constitute this vast assemblage can only in a remote and secondary sense have been witnesses of what has passed, but I, who, coming among you as a stranger, have had the opportunity of witnessing the demeanour of those who have received in their several' orders at my hands the marks of distinction they have fairly and honourably won; I have had the occasion, the gratifying occasion, to observe that, as commonly happens, the merit that gains the reward of ex cellence as combined with the modesty which befits all per sons, but especially the period of youth. And, ladies and gentlemen, I entertain the hope that all those who, 'having now received certificates and prizes, will feel that this day has been no common day in the course of their youthful lives. Upon this platform they have appeared in the face of you who surround us and fill the hall —of you their fellow-townsmen, their friends—doubtless, in many happy instances, their parents—in your presence they have ap peared—and on receiving the reward of their past diligence let every one of them bear away with him the conviction that he has been giving a solemn and public pledge of future and continued exertions. (Cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, it is a consoling truth, a happy subject of meditation for us all—for them especially, but likewise for others, their com panions in places of education, who have not appeared be fore us to-day--to know that we have not been brought into this world without there having been prepared for us in it, by the hands of Divine Providence, a place of usefulness to fill. (Cheers.) Don't let us underrate the difficulties and chscouragements of those youthful minds that are making their first progress in the path of learning. The path of learning is not, and cannot be, especially in its early stages, an easy path. I go further, and say that it would lose much of its real profit if it were—the difficulties which the young encounter, and before which in some instances they may be tempted to shrink, are not only a trial of their courage and patience, but are the ordained,appointed,and effective means of forming and developing their character. (Hear, hear.) What I am now saying I address to the candidates rather than to the audience, for it is an arduous task for the very . young to look into the remote future. From us, who have attainel maturity of life, or are descending into the vale of years, it may fairly be expected that we should have acquired the faculty and habit of reckoning with confidence and fore sight upon what is a benefit in the future—but the happy hours of youth, the very thoughtlessness peculiar to it, the very graces of youth connected apparently with that care lessness of thought, these things make it difficult for them to prepare, as they ought to ao, for the other difficulties of their future lives. We must not expect too much from them we must not apply too great a rigour to the judgment of their conduct, just as we should deprecate it in our several stations for ourselves ; but without blaming the indisposi tion which may occasionally be found to study, and eepe ci illy to severe study, let us award especial commendation to those who have overcome that unwillingness, and earnestly inculcate upon all—upon the losers as well as the winners, upon those who have to feel upon hope and upon those who may be tempted to repose in enjoyment ; we must, I say, inculcate on each of them, be his position what it may, be his difileulties what they may—that he has oily to turn resolutely to account, from day to day, the faculties with which God has endowed him, in order to find before very long that he has a place in the world, and that a career of duty, usefulness, end excellence is open to him. (lime) It is not necessary that I should say many words as to the place which Manchester occupies in the system of local exa minations, because the statistics are sufficient to make every one judge for themselves. I will not say that any of us ought to feel a sentiment other than that of humility, and even of shame, at our inadequate use of the opportunities that we here had ; but when I address a community, it is not exactly the same rule that is applicable to such pro ceedings as would be applied to an individual to the review of his own conduct. You have no reason to repent of having entered freely and largely into the system opened by the local examination of the universities, You have been told that the average rate of success is about 66k, or precisely two candidates out of three ; but that is the average rate of success as applicable to the whole kingdom, You have also been told that the average rate of success for Manchester, varying in some degree between the seniors and juniors is, when applied to the whole num. ber of candidates—that is to say, when applied to the same principle as when we spoke of the whole kingdom—is not only not below 66i, but it is 75i ; or, in short, that while two candidates out of three are successful from the kingdom in general, Manchester is able to say that of her favoured, or especially favoured children, success is attained by three candidates out of four. (Cheers.) And perhaps this is not less remarkable because your aggregatecontributions to these examinations is a large one, a large percentage of one, We would not deserve the greatestcomnsendation if it could be said that none but the very choicest of your youth were sent into the examinations; but here again Manchester stands well, because, whilst the circle of which she is the centre has sent to the examination only one.seventh of the total num ber of candidates, her proportion of population to the popu lation of the country is very much smaller, indeed compa ratively insignificant. But there is another point of view in which you ought to bear in mind she figures from the in structive figures that have been presented to us, and it is the point of view offered by the progress you have made. In 1858 you passed 36 candidates ; in 1864 you passed 111. Nor was that a mere increase in numbers—it was still more emphatically an improvement of proportions, for in 1858 29 candidates in 100 succeeded ; but those 29 have increased to 75, while, instead of failures per cent., you have now only to speak of something under 25, (Cheers.) This suggests to the mind that there is a feature eminently characteristic of the country to which we belong. We are not perhaps the quickest, the most rapid in perception either of the popula tions of the earth, but of the various counties of the king dom. (Laughter and cheers.) People sometimes complain of the first aspect and address of a Lancashire man, and say he is not as civil as he should be. (Laughter.) But, when we look at the figures which are before us, I think we may venture to say that they are a symbol of our condition, that we hold "It is never too late to mend," and that progress, improvement, constant effort to develop what is good in us, and to amend what is amiss, whether in life and character, business and trade, and to carry on to the very best of what is attainable the materials that may be in our hands—that this is a rule and a practice eminently characteristic of Lan cashire. I could not but be struck, on reading and listen ing to that report, with the amiable and graceful manner in which you deal with the distinctions that have been achieved by Liverpool in the local examinations. Liverpool has achieved peculiar distinction, and to that distinction you have given full value and generous appreciation. As long as I recollect there has been a friendly rivalry and competition between Liverpool andiManchester—sometimes Manchester and Liverpool have had their little controversies and their little contests, but those contests are like the quarrels of man and wile, and woe be to him that attempts to interfere therein. (Great laughter.) : You have gracefully done justice to Liverpool, and let me say you could afford to do it, because I am now about to attempt to reciprocate that go nen 113 conduct by the endeavour to do justice to you ; and if it bo true that on this occasion Liverpool has attained special honour—in which I for one, as a native of Liverpool, especially rejoice—yet it is true an honoured line in the exa mination does not altogether affect the condition of the masses; and never let it be forgotten in examinations of this nature that it is the extensive operation—it is the con dition of the mass to which you must look—nay, the very henours which are attained by the most excellent of them must be considered as having a purpose ulterior to the dis tinction, the happiness, or the excellence of those preferred ones themselves, Their great and final purpose is to raise the general level and carry afterwards, and to carry upwards if we can, those upon whom the community has to depend for the future discharge of its great duties, and here you stand eminently well. Liverpool was happy enough to pass— that is, to achieve the success of satisfying the examiners on behalf of Oxford—a fraction of the candidates; but Man chester was enabled to attain to more satisfactory results, as has already been stated, of no less than 75. (Cheers.) I believe you would have been just and generous even if you could not so well have afforded it ; but upon a general comparison I think it would appear that you sustain no loss even in competition with the great achievements and the great ad vance of Liverpool in these examinations, (Cheers.) Well, now, ladies and gentlemen, examination is a thing particu larly characteristic of the age in which we live. Examina tion never was, and never can be a perfect instrument. It must always or generally be inferior to the results of that single-minded self-devotion which, in certain periods of the world, has irresistibly impelled excellent and distin guished minds towards the acquisition of learning by a stimulus coming from wilein. (Hear.) But there is no greater mistake than to misconstrue or overlook the essen tial condition of the age in which we live, the time of that profound devotion to learning which now has become rare. Those times were times when industry had not re ceived its present development, and when high pursuits of the mind had not to sustain that formidable competition to which they are now on all hands exposed. Let us, there fore, ladies and gentlemen, be thankful instead of grudging the result. Let us be thankful that by the modern system of putting into healthy play the principle of emulation, and of offering to the young the inducements of early honours and reward, without any stimulus applied to any vicious principle or tendency within them, we are enabled in some degree to keep pace with the rapid development of external and material pursuits, and to vindicate for the higher ac quisition and the higher habits of the mind, in some degree at least, that prominence which belongs to them. Depend upon it this is a powerful instrument for evoking mental excellence. It may be often more or less to the action of stratagem and luck, but that is not its predominant charac. ter. Its predominant character is this, that it holds up be fore the eyes of the young an object visible, palpable, not to be mistaken, and that it directs and encourages the young to concentrate the whole of their efforts upon a sin gle point. I declare, if I might venture to quote experience, I am convinced—profoundly convinced, from the experience of after life—that there is nothing better than this for instructing, training, and adapting the mind to those greater efforts which, in particular crises of difficulty, the full grown man may be called upon to make, when he has to combine many means for the attainment of a single end. I say with confidence that that task will be rendered for him easier and more profitable, in consequence of his having gone through when he was young a discipline of examina tion—a discipline, that is to say, of a searching trial in a variety of branches, with long preparation beforehand, with deliberate adaptation of his means to his need, and with a firm resolution to employ every power and faculty of his mind in reaching the object before him. Now, ladies and gentlemen, after saying so much on examination, per mit me to say that I do not appear before you to-day within this hall for the purpose of distributing these prizes solely for the purpose even, I might say mainly, as a native of Lancashire, or as a minister bearing office under the Crown. For many long years it has been my undeserved but heppy lot to represent in Parliament one of the ancient universi ties of the country. (Cheers.) Often and long have I de plored and sensibly have I felt the difficulty of keeping together in harmony and efficiency the oldest and newer pursuits of our Christian civilisation. If we go back for some two or three generations in this country to what we were ourselves at the time of early in ventions and manufactures, what do we see ? We see through the rural districts an old world, ex isting almost unchanged. In each university everything that belonged to the future of society remaining almost exactly as it had been; and then, passing into Lancashire or into Staffordshire, or the W est Riding of Yorkshire, we see a new world growing up with rapidly rising towns, multi plying populations, all distributing wealth and gradually calling into existence both powerful classes and powerful faculties of mind, adapted and dedicated to the circumstances of the present day ; but between these two we see little sym pathy or connection. Now, ladies and gentlemen, my belief is that it is a happy distribution of this country that what is new in it does not require to forswear brotherhood with what is old—(cheers)—and I don't believe that any higher duty, or any duty more fruitful of reward, can attach to any one of us in our several stations than the effort, according to onr respective means, to harmonise these two great powers together. Much has been done in our towns for the pur pose; the abolition of invieious distinctions and unjust pre ference has opened the way between heart and heart which was obstructed and barred up before. But as regards the special relations of these institutions and the great commer cial and manufacturing districts of the country, no doubt there was much serious difficulty in bringing them together. Commerce and manufacture requires the period of education, or what we call education in the more specific sense, should be brought to its term at a time of life earlier than that which a full literary education has commonly been judged to require; and there is no doubt that there was almost a want of connection between this great district and the an cient universities at the country. But a great step has been made in filling up that gap. I don't think that any more important or any wiser measure has ever been adopted by those ancient institutions than was adopted first and foremost, I am glad to say, by the university with which I have the honour to be connected when under the auspices of some of the distinguished and excellent men numbered among its sons, it was led to make the first effort at the foundation of this system. (Cheers.) I trust, ladies and gentlemen, that that effort on the part of the uni versities will not be their last effort. I am well assured that notwithstanding the real difficulties to which I adverted, there is much that might be done to place the powerful com mercial class of the populous commercial districts of our country into closer relations with those most venerable and most valuable seats of learning. (Cheers.) But they deserve honour for that great effort. It was a great innovation on their practices, but they had the good sense to perceive that, though liable to the charge of innovation, it bore the true character of improvement. (Hear, hear.) They were, there fore, not deterred by any apprehension of invidious criti cism to which they might be subjected. Having claimed at your hands the honour which is their due, let me in return say,that it did the highest honour, in my humble judgment, to the manufacturing and commercial districts of Lanca shire—those very districts in which novelty and progress were most particularly represented—that they distinguished themselves beyond almost any other portion of the country in their readiness, in their eagerness to close with the offer of the old universities to make these local examinations an important and prominent part of your educational and your social system. (Cheers.) I anticipate with the utmost confi dence the continued and increasing success of this great effort. I must add, there is not a wish that lies nearer to my heart than to see the healthful inttrchrnge, the free inter change, which belongs to the operations of commerce, ap plied also in all its breadth to the operations of the mind and of the heart. There are none of us who have not much to learn from those who are placed in other positions ; there are none of the separate classes connected with our insti tutions, and connected with the power and wealth of the country, that has not much to learn from one another, By so learning they will lose nothing of what they have ; they will gain much of what they have not; and surely I need not tell to you, for you feel it more vividly than I do, that the commercial, the material prosperity of this age re quire more than ever, more than at any period of human existence, the balance and compensation whioh is afforded by the highest civilising pursuits. (Cheers.) It is more than ever necessary that the powers of the Christian reve lation of the Christian faith should be exercised and felt over the whole surface of society, and down to its profoundest depths. (Cheers.) But that Christian revelation has not been only a revelation of spiritual truth. It was a revelation in which spiritual truth was designed to carry with it and to draw after it the perfect development of every human excellence—(cheers)--the soaring faculties of the imagina tion, the searching powers of the mind, that which has made philosophers, artists, and poets, who are the glory of man kind, These things were not prescribed by Christianity— they were elevated into a higher sphere; and when I speak of civilising agencies, I draw no distinction for the present argument between the beneficent purposes of the Gospel and those other excellencies of which the Gospel, indepen dently of its religious aims, has been the most powerful and 'fruitful agent in promoting. (Cheers.) I only beseech you to believe that the work which has assembled us to-day is a noble and fruitful work. I beseech you to persevere in that course of encouragement which you long ago, and first of any others, entered upon, and to labour for this great end; and that, as Manchester is the metropolis of manu factures, and has shown herself to abound in every human energy and the material of all human excellency, so she may more largely and effectually combine with her power to increase the strength and wealth of her country the dis position and capacity to rear sons who shall obtain for her every other distinction, and make her name in every other sphere famous in the history of her country, and endeared with a thousand little titles to the grateful recollections of its citizens. (Cheers.) After a few words from Mr BAZLEY, M.P., a vote of thanks was passed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, on rising to re spond, was again received with' loud chimers. lie said—lt would ill become me to detain you at any length to express my most cordial acknowledgments for the vote of thanks which you have been pleased to pass. In the remarks I re cently delivered to you I had at least the excuse that I was dealing with an important subject. Now, I have no other duty than to assure you of the sincerity of the gratitude I feel, with one exception, and it is this—l did not especially refer in the observations I have made to the nature of the great functions discharged by the teachers of those young persons who have appeared before us. We cannot well overrate; the difficulty of the function discharged by the teacher, neither can we overrate its dignity. An unworthy teacher, indeed, has no claim to our respect. The man who pursues his vocation as a teacher in any other spirit than that of a pecuniary acquisition has no claim —at any rate he has but a secondary claim—to the feelings that some among his brethren may expect us to entertain. But I am bound to express this conviction, that merely selfish desires add objects never will make of themselves a good teacher. (Rear.) In order to sot .about that labour with the energy it requires, there must also be highe aims, and I do not know any class of persons among whom one finds more of enlightened feeling to the best interests of their kind than a largo proportion of those teachers by whom the schools of this country are governed and (11 ected. (Cheers.) To them, as one deeply interested in the welfare of the community, I beg to tender the ex' pression of the claim they have upon our respect and at tachment. You, ladies and gentlemen, I will only ask once more to receive, with the same cordiality with %chi ch it is uttered on my pert, the assurance of my respect sau my gratitude for your kindness. (Loud cheers.) SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES.—We are not prepared to admit that even alr stractedly the principle of direct. as superseding indirect taxation, is founded on no better principle than the ina bility of Government to carry through the Legislature a measure involving the abolition of indirect taxes. We maintain that there is something more in the question than this, and that it is not fair to attribute to prejudice or selfishness ()ping)° founded on sound sense and clear reason. If the.llouse , Commons is, as Mr Gladstone thinks, most truly opPes ed to, we will not say, the abolition of indirect taxation, but to any material alteration in the balance now existing bel le ! ) these two modes of collecting rev e nu e , it is not becaus e tu " . House consists mainly of the possessors of large propertyt who would be the principal sufferers by such a change 1 is because there is involved i n thi s q ue stion someth ing much more important than the mere interests of a cl ass ' the principle, namely, 'whether the taxes are t ir are not, to be imposed by the persons who contribute towards them. Repeal all indirect taxes, and the Po orer class of the electors, who constit u t e th e ma jority in every constituency, would be in the enviable but anoraalotto position of imposing taxes which they do not pay, while the . richer class of electors would be payi ng t axe s in the iteP ° sition of which they could scarcely be said to have any voice The country would be divided into two hostile camps class possessed of accumulated wealth would bear the WW l . '" burdens of the State, and the remainder of the community would by an agreeable division of labour have nothing t ° do but to assess them. The Liverpool Financial Refe r° Association seem to have persuaded themselves that such It state of things would have no e v il e ff ec t u p on trade. e. do not admit that the prosperity o f t ra d e ' i s th e only obj ee ' to be kept in view in the imposition of taxes ; but were it B °, it is quite clear a predominance of di rec t t axa tion We l t have a most injurious effect on the prospects of trade all commerce. People go into business for the purpose ° making money, and everything which t en d s t o make inoto a less desirable acquisition tends directly to discourage they pursuits which are directed towards acquiring it. If 11 moneyed man, the possessor o f accumu l a t e d wea lth is to be 3 marked out as the especial object of the vengeance of the taxgatherer—if he is to form a member of a proscribed cleft on which is la.d the whole burden of the State, the pursuit of money will lose many of its attractions, and what is eves more import,tnt, that capital in which the strength of Bur land lies—which is the most movable and transitoryof hulys,l possessions, will make itself wings and fly from a where it is so ungenerously and i n ho s pit a bly t r eated, e ll ' seek out for itself some place wher e it will be received with a less churlish welcome. It thus appears that this question between direct and indirect taxation involves issues uttl el t more important than those of time and ma nner, and °I ; cheapness or dearness of collection, and that the theory t u Free Trade, noble and true as it is, may be reduced to ell absurdity when it falls into the hands of fanatics who insist upon pushing it to its extreme condition Niithout reference to political expediency, or to other economical considerationS quite as true and quite as worthy of our attention as the doctrines of Free Trade themselves. PosT.—The reigning dynasty in Greece having beet~ changed, the representatives of the nation for some time past busied themselves in creating those constitutional saf e ' guards which will at the same time ensure for the Cretan the unrestricted use of its legitimate prerogatives, and for the people the enjoyment of that political liberty which th e y believe they have now secured. It is easy to frame constitn" tions, but the difficulty consists in preserving them. The representatives of the Greek nation are desirous of providi li : against every possible contingency which, on the one lien" could threaten the security of the new dynasty, or on the other, give to it powers which might be employed to t he prejudice of the nation : It is no doubt expedient to write down in black and white what , they intend shall be rules •for the guidance of the Sovereign and the people ; but they must not suppose al at when the new code has received the sanction of Parliarne ll ' and the assent of the Crown, when it has been confirmed with every formality and solemnly enrolled a mongst t he muniments of the kingdom, that their task is completed* A charter is worth nothing more than the parchment on which it is written if the Sovereign and the people whose respective rights and obligations it prescribes do not loyal!y and conscientiously observe its provisions. Paper coo n ' tutions do not prevent dynasties from being overturned, net the liberties of a people from being trampled under foot. , the Greek nation. then, is desirous of inaugurating und er its present youthful Sovereign a new era, let it u nite In supporting and protecting the Throne which it has raised' In the presence of the monarchy which it has c rea t e d, let it banish that anarchy which even at the present m oment threatens to involve both Sovereign and people in a corn' 'non ruin. If the Greek nation would have its liberties respected, let it prove to the world that they are prize d ; and that it knows how to discriminate between political freedom and lawless license. Their own future lies in the hands of the Greeks. It is for them to decide whether , shall be as radiant as their friends wish it to be, or whethe r it shall be as clouded as the past. COUNTRY MARKETS. LIVERPOOL—FRIDAY. We have bad only a few buyers at our corn exchange ll ill morning, and with the exception of one or two forced sal of wheat, the transactions have been quite in retail at ab ou last Friday's rates. Flour dull and lower. Indian CO r l offered freely at 6d per qr lower. Oats and oatmeal a Tuesday's prices, Beans, peas, and barley, no alteratial' STAMFORD-FRIDAY. White wheat, 40s to 42s ; red, 38s to 40s per 36 stone' Barley, malting, 30s to 35s ; grinding, 29s to 31s per c l, r. Oats, 18s to 26s per 24 stone. Beans, old, 40s to 428 P° - qr. ; new, 36s to 3bs. WAKEFIELD—FRIDAY. The wheat trade is quiet, and there is no change in van e ' Barley is in fair demand at late rates. • Averages for the week : Wheat 2,235 qrs., at 39s 71d Oats 31s 6tl Peas — Beans LINCOLN—FRIDAY. This morning at our market wheat continues quiet' and sales took place at late rates. Beans and other articl" unaltered. White wheat new, 40s to 44s Barley, grinding.. 28s to 291 Red do. 3Bs to 400 Oats,. old, .. 24s to 2 70 Old white 42s to 47s New do 21s to 23 0 Red do. 39s to 43s I Beans.. 4 Barley, malting.... 33s to 31s Beans, new 37 2 to 37s to to 3464: CORK—THURSDAY. The following were the quotations this morning rt eil 4 , wheat, 7s 3d to 7s 10d ; white, 78 6d to 8s 9d , barley, v.„" Od to 78 6d ; oats, 48 10d to 6 s od ; black do., 58 Od l" 6s Od; bere, —s Od. BRISTOL SUGAR—FRIDAY. The demand has again become flat, and prices are about is to is 6d lower than last week, Rum—a good busineoi doing in Jamaica. RKET. the close of the market. Walls End. Hetton 2l , 6 Cassop Hartlepool 21 Hough Hall 20 East Hartlepool 21 3 ., South Kelloe 20 :et, 35 ; sold, 32, Births. EDGELL.—On the 12th inst., at Rugby, the wife of MO Edgell, of a daughter, stillborn. Ountlm.—On the 13th inst., at Queen's-gate-garder l6 South Kensingt on , L a dy Outram, of a son, ife PATEhSON.—On the 13th inst., a t Syd en h am -hill, thew „ of William Paterson, Esq., o f Si ngapore, o f a ditug' ter. SCHOENBERG. —Oll the 11th inst., at Herzogswalde, Urea. den, the wife of Baron Erich von Schoenberg, of a 00' Marriages. BARNES—CHEETHAM.--On the 13th inst., at Stalybridg et James Richardson Barnes, only son of Thomas Blrn th Esq., M.P., ol Farnworth, Lancashi re , an d t h e Quint s l Denbighshire, to Ellen, the youngest daughter of Jo l3 ' Cheetham, Esq., of Eastwood, Stalybridge. BOWLES--DOUGLASS,—On the 12th inst. at St. Jame s's ' . Piccadilly, C. J. Bowles, Esq., o f Crow Leasowe, shire, to Mary Ann, eldest daughter of the late ItOu e. Douglass, of Esher, Surrey, and 184, Piccadilly. Deaths. BECH.EII.—On the 10th inst., at Maida•hill, Capt. Ma rti Wm. Becher, aged 67. CLOWES.—On the 13th inst., the Rev. R. Cloves, vicar of Kuutstord, Cheshire, aged 76. COCKERILL —On the 12th inst., at Riversdale, Tivict ei rt ham, F ur t escue P. C oc k er i i l , f ormerly Purser Hon. -r 4a- India C.S. HALE.—On the 13th inst., at Monk's-mill House,l,VottOn" under-Edge, Colonel John R. Blagden Hale, of Bradl e y Court, Gl o ucestershire. and lat e o f I s t Lif e Guards an 3d Light Dragoons. KENNEDY.—On the 13th inst., at North Bank, Regent' '°- park, Captain NV. 11. Kennedy, It N., aged 53. YouNct.—On the 11th inst , at 14, Eaton-square, Thonool Young, Esq., age.l 81. London: Primed and PrWished by WILLIAM ANDILE of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at luf; Sys Office No. "4 Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, n the CculitY Sityrday, October 15, 1661. COAL M . Prloco of Coal per Ton at s. d. Tanfield Moor Butes 15 3 Wylam 18 6 Hastings Hartley l9 6 Cowpen Hartley.. 19 6 Walls Encl. Harton 29 0 Braddyll'a Hetton 20 9 Ships at mark) TEE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 15, 1864.